How to revise for exams

With exam season approaching we thought it would be useful for not only our customers who take exams here, but for all students undergoing exams to provide a useful guide that will aid your revision and help you get the results you want.

How to revise for exams

There are three types of learning: visual, auditory and kinaesthetic. Everyone will have a general preference to which type they suit the most, which brings us to our first question; what type of learner are you? If you revise using your preferred method of learning the whole process of remembering important information will be a lot easier.

Below are the three best ways to revise under each type of learning:

Visual

If you are a visual learner you will benefit most through creating graphs, charts and images. You should also be able to memorise individual words and answers to questions very well.

If this istyle of learning suits you then a good approach to revision is to watch presentations, webinars or lectures.. Another good way is to organise your research and work into smaller categories and break all of the information down to basic key points. Once you’ve done this, it’s time to start producing cards with key facts on. These key facts will ideally be loaded with important information but will be short in length – for example, in bullet points.

An example would be electricians needing to be approved under a government Part P scheme to be able to sign off their work – this could be broken down as “electricians need part p to sign off work.’ It may sound bizarre but if you have these cards put in places you visit often around your home and read them each time you come across them, you are likely to remember the facts that you wrote down.

Auditory

If you are an auditory learner you will learn most effectively by listening to speech, normally from a teacher or lecturer. If this style suits you then a great approach to revision can be listening to relevant podcasts. Podcasts are almost like lessons however they are solely audio based with no visual aspect, making it extremely suitable for auditory learners.

Some teachers will now make podcasts specifically for revision purposes – if this isn’t currently available to you then you could always ask if they could be introduced if you would find it useful. Many lecturers in higher learning facilities (such as universities) may record their lectures so they are available online to catch up on. A good form of revision is to download this into an audio file so you can listen to it on the go.

Kinaesthetic

If you are a kinaesthetic learner, you learn best through practical hands-on work. This is a bit more tricky compared to the other learning types, however, there are useful ways to memorise important information.

The main way to revise using this form of learning is to act out or read your notes aloud. For example, create a small presentation regarding a key area of what you’re studying and present it to a friend or family member. Another good approach is creating anagramswhich can be a useful tactic to remembering key points. For example, one used within the electrical training sector is ‘CRIPPER’, which stands for:

Continuity testing

Ring final

Insulation resistance test

Polarity dead testing

Polarity live testing

Earth fault loop impedance test

Residual current device test (RCD)

We hope you found this guide useful and wish you luck in getting the results you want for your upcoming exams!

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